goodhelmet

Two words: atomic bomb

---Pat Patterson was in Europe working as an agent. He's now officially back with the company but is working on a part-time schedule. ---Larry Mollin has been added to the writing crew. He has no wrestling experience but has been a television writer for 15 years. His main claim to fame is "Beverly Hills 90210"/ He wrote for three years, produced for three years and was executive producer from '96-'97. ---Brian Gerwitz will be gone for most of the summer and return in the fall. He will be the main writer for the upcoming WWE movie. IT is still up in the air who will take his place in the meantime. ---News on Molly Holly leaving the company: Molly went to Vince and asked for one year off. She wanted to spend more time with her new niece and go to church on a regular basis. Vince said she was more than welcome to return to the company in a year if she desired. She never had any problem putting over Hemme since people put her over when she was getting a push. ---RVD has been rehabbing hard so he can be at the ECW PPV. He won't wrestle but he at least wants to be able to do a move or a spot. ---Meltz nomintes the 5/2 Raw as best Raw of the Year. HE gave Benjamin-Michaels ****1/2. He gave Jericho-Edge ***1/2 and HHH-Benoit ***1/2. ---Jazz has not been called for either the 6/10 Hardcore Homecoming show or the WWE PPV. Jim Ross is still bothered by problem because of the potato punch that HHH gave him on the 4/18 RAW. ---Brian Hebner's suspension has been lifted. ---Terry Funk was scheduled for the 6/12 PPV but he made some comments on audiowrestling.com that put that to doubt. In the interview, Funk said it will be hard to live up to the original triple threat match. Funk said that while Vince hated the ECW product, he is now making a profit off it with the PPV and DVD. Funk calls Vinnie MAc a "pure, utter, a$$hole" and doesn't give a damn about the 6/12 show. ---Meltz suggests getting a tape of the 4/30 OVW show. During the show the Heartbreakers come out for an interview and in Meltz's own words "WWE HAS SCREWED UP WHAT WOULD APPEAR TO BE AN UNSCREWABLE ACT BEYOND BELIEF".

---Samoa Joe turned down the New Japan offer for his first tour with the company. NJ reneged on the original offer and made it even lower. ---Bobby Heenan will no longer be managing in ROH. Heenan will still be willing to do videos but won't be at ringside anymore. He has the mentality that you should be able to get over without swearing. At the 4/16 show, CM Punk was swearing and Heenan didn't want to be there. Sapolky told Heenan that Punk was one of the few guys who has the latitude to do stuff on their own. TNA News ---Terri Runnels spoke out against Dustin Rhodes about his domestic violence issues on her website. ---In TNA, there is a big power struggle between the Jarretts and the Carters (I am guessing the Panda energy folks). The Carters have caught on that TNA was a vehicle to make Jeff a star and sinc eit hasn't worked, they want Jeff out as champ and AJ Styles in. Jeff doesn't want to do it and Jerry is trying to rally people against it. ---Jeff has agreed to drop the title, after much prodding, but he suggested Monty Brown. This would require that they turn Brown after they had just turned him recently. Brown would also have to sign a new contract since his is about to expire. ---The Carters want to take the big decision making power away from the Jarretts. The problem is that the Jarretts are wrestling peopleand that the Carters have not grown up in wrestling. On the other hand, it always winds up that those who have the power want the spotlight kept on them and use their power for that purpose. ---It was the Jarretts who suggested Dusty Rhodes come and "save" the company but when Rhodes sugget that Jeff drop the title, they turned on him. ---Dusty supposedly has heat from all sides but the Jarretts have been trying to make sure that Dusty does not succeed like coming up with the all-cage concept that would only burn the stips out. ---There was heat on Nash for showing up at the PPV for the pre-taped interview bot not sticking around for the show. His excuse was he had a 30 hour flight to China to catch. ---DDP also had heat on him because he showed up with an intricate plan for the WarGames type match but Waltman, James and Jarrett had other ideas (ie like the abortion of a match that they had?) ---Bob Ryder has no real power in the company anymore and his only job is handling the travel. ---Meltz doesn't expect anything to come out of this but Inoki has been interested in buying the company since it would give him controlling rights to the NWA titles. ---

NO, trust me. I have no desire to see it again. It was bad live. It will probably be even worse on tape.

How'd you guess?

---The 6/10 Hardcore Homecoming show is looking like a major success so far. They had a budget for $30,000 and already have $60,000 for advanced ticket sales before egenral admission tickets even went on sale. They plan to gross around $150,000 from the show and fanfest. ---Other ECW reunion shows are planned in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa. ---More names announced are 2 Cold Scorpio, Axl Rotten, Bill Alfonso, Don Callis, Joel Gertner, Tommy Rich, Tracy Smothers, Roadkill, Danny Doring, Chris Chetti and JT Smith. ---Mick Foley will wrestle again at the 5/17 Brian Hildebrand Memorial Show in Johnson City, TN. It is his first match since wrestling Kawada last year in Japan. ---Matt Hardy will begin wrestling indy shows in mid-July. He will recieve between $1500 and $3000 per appearance. Unlike test, he is heavily in demand. He has already agreed to something like 10 dates for ROH. Also, Meltzer notes that on the INdy scene, you get your hotels paid for, you can do Polaroids, and has a chance he can clear more wrestling by not being in WWE... similar to Raven a couple years back. The big drawback for Hardy is that there are no longer any big merchandising checks. ---The Rock N' Roll Express had reunited and now are broken up again. Here is the story verbatim...

Hey, Some Guy, in 1997, I could have easily bee someone to blame for that kind of crowd reaction. In fact, I was. You included a match of Tajiri v. Taka from San Antonio. I didn't even remember that the match took place or it being any good (it wasn't). I do however remember the Putskis v. Lawlers tag team classic that you failed to include!!!

---Corrections from the All Japan Carnival listing from a week ago... Giant Baba def. Abdullah via countout (not Jumbo Tsuruta) Baba def. Brody by pin in 1981 (not DQ) ---Ticket sales for the NJ Tokyo Dome show have been non-existent so they signed on Misawa to come in for a tag match to generate interest. The match will be Misawa & Tatsumi Fujinami v. Liger & Chono. ---Kendo Kashin, who wrestled as Dragon Soldier, won the ROH tounrament that was supposed to be for a slot in the NJ Best of Super Junior tournament. Only problem: he was not announced as a participant in the tourney that starts on 5/21 and finishes on 6/19. Meltzer said what a waste that turned out to be. ---New Japan President Kusama went to a Big Japan show on 4/29 and is now interested in the idea of death matches to spice up the shows. ---Ultimo Dragon (aka Yoshihiro Asai) is apparently not returning to WWE after all. They have not booked any dates for him after agreeing to bring him back. Instead, he is starting a new promotion, Dragon Door.

See, I think scrambles serve their purpose. I always include them in comps because they do represent a part of ROH just like the garbage matches and the spotfests aka "mat classics". I do agree completely that they should give the SE crap a rest. It is hard to take them seriously when moments before a decent match, Teddy Hart does a super-triple-flip with a 540 rotation off the top of a cage. Then three minutes later, the guy he hit bounces up and does something equally as absurd.

In the later shows, the moves are more commonly referred to by their names. Early on, many of them have probably never even seen them themselves. Midway through the first year, that particular part gets better.

The announcing is one of the biggest flaws of the ROH shows. It gets slightly better when CM Punk is doing commentary but Spolski is always annoying. Also, alot of the MOTY hype is due to message boards like DVDVR or the ROH board. Typically, after a show, people who went post their thoughts, call a match one of the greatest they ever saw and it gets picked up by the announcers who run with it again and again when they do the voiceover work.

March Business Comparisons for WWE Estimated Average Attendance 3/04: 5,898 Estimated Average Attendance 3/04: 4,617 (- 21.7%) February 2005: 4,460* Estimated Average Gate 3/04: $193, 295 Estimated Average Gate 3/05: $166,200 (-14%) February 2005: $153, 800* % of household shows sold out 3/04 17.6 % of household shows sold out 3/05 16.7 February 2005 5.0* Average Raw Rating 3/04: 4.14 Average Raw Rating 3/05: 3.86 (- 6.8%) February 2005: 3.95 Average SD! Rating 3/04: 3.30 Average SD! Rating 3/05: 3.37 (+2.1%) February 2005: 3.40 *- Does not include overseas shows. March 2004: WM XX (18,500 paid, 19689 attended; 2.4 million live gate; Est.1.5 buyrate; 18.83 million est. company PPV revenue) March 2005: WM XXI (20, 193 sellout; 2.1 million live gate; est. 1.68 buyrate; 20 million est. company PPV revenue) Meltz Notes on numbers: ---WM was up when every other business indicator was down except for SD! ratings. ---Monthly revenues for house shows were less than just one week in Australia did. ---Since Mania was technically in April, March was a terrible month while April is a record-breaking month. ---The monthly gross was up from last year because they ran more house shows although individual house shows last year grossed more. ---There is no evidence that Cena or Batista will turn around domestic house show business. ---Because the entire month of April was spent overseas and had Mania, it won;t be until May that we can see if Cena or batista have any drawing power. ---Meltz credits the Batista-HHH program for Mania's numbers being up. ---If you throw Mania into March numbers, this year is a much better year than last year for revenue. Even with lower house show attendance and lower ratings, the success of Mania trumps last year in a huge way. ---Raw averaged 4.82 million viewers in March. Down from 4.88 in February but up from 4.69 in January. The numbers are down from March last year. However, last year, March had the draft lottery and guest appearances from Austin, Foley and Rock. ---Meltz predicts May ratings will be way up for the draft lottery.

Could be. I only remember the abortion that was the Jericho feud and the horrible garbage match they had on PPV. For Austin, I have never seen a good Kane-Austin match. When did Kane feud with Benoit? It certainly wasn't a memorable feud.

I agree with the sentiment, but Kane has had good matches with Austin, Benoit and Jericho. The problem is I don't think any of those matches or feuds were particularly good. Maybe you should review them

Ok, after seeing Loss comment on ROH and ECW fans in his match reviews, it got me to thinking... what should the appropriate response be? Personally, I think ECW and ROH crowds are direct reactions to what was being fed to them by other companies. For ECW, wrestling was in full-blown cartoon mode and ECW gave the mutants something they would not be ashamed of watching. For ROH, it is a direct response of companies like WWE dictating what the fans should like. WWF used to criticize WCW for planting signs and allowing their crowds to be manipulated. Back in early 2001, there were reports of WWE taking away the Rocky Sucks signs because they wanted Rock to be a face even though the fans clearly were ready to boo Rock. Clearly, the Fed were being hypocrites and it made for some awkward television moments as Fed and fans conflicted. The Fed only has themselves to blame. They fed into the cheers and jeers of the fans during the Attitude era and allowed guys like Austin to become face while Rocky Maivia was booed and had to morph into the Rock to survive. Then, all of a sudden, they wanted to dictate to the fans what was appropriate after they had made the fans influence their decision making? In WCW, the interaction with fans was a little eclectic. The nWo v. WCW feud gave the shows a wierd vibe. You could have Konnan and Hall, supposed heels, getting cheered and having their catch-phrases chanted on a nightly basis. You can have the fans cheer Scott Steiner when he turns on his brother. WCW also had some of the worst crowd reactions of all-time, mainly at the 1996 Hog Wild show. Only with a bunch of backwooded rednecks could you see Malenko and Benoit put on a classic and get heckled. Only there could you see Harlem Heat come out to the racist chants non-stop. Then I look at the crowd reactions of Japanese fans. Is it better to sit silently through a match with the occasional "OOhhhh"? Should we just accept it because we understand that is a cultural thing? Does the crowd reaction of Japanese fans affect your enjoyment of the match? Don't get me wrong. I have seen plenty of matches where the crowd reaction was off the charts (6-5-89). However, I made the conscious decision to not allow the crowd to affect how I percieve a match. Then there are the positive crowd reactions of the smart fans. This is what happens when Chris Benoit recieves a standing ovation at the Royal Rumble even though he was not designed to be the star of the show. There are the "You Screwed Matt" chants even when the Fed tries to force Lita on the fans as a face. They should be allowed to sit on thier hands as Taker and HHH have one of the worst matches in recent memory swending a clear signal to the Fed that we don't like these guys. This is where ROH comes in. I think ROH necessitates a different approach because of the way they book shows and have them so far apart. In the beginning, the fans were applauding and not cheering/booing as appropriate but the matches were not constructed that way. With the exception of Christopher Daniels, there were no clear face-heel lines. It was more about the athletic contest and Code of Honor. For the first three-way, I had never seen any of these guys before (except AD) and had no idea who was a heel or face. By the first five minutes, I knew. I also look at the size of the promotion. While they run 1-2 shows a month, it is really hard to build your characters as strong as you'd like when your main source of revenue is tape sales. In that event, I prefer to look at it from an exhibition standpoint not as a conflict. The smarky crowd doesn't bother me as much as the dead crowds do. This brings me to another point. Do you view wrestling for the conflict or the exhibition? For some matches, such as Damian v. Naniwa from JCup '95, we look at it as an exhibition that can be appreciated for what it is. When I watched Ultimo Dragon v. Rey Mysterio from War or the Psichosis v. Rey match from JCup '95, these were clearly exhibitions designed to showcase the dance of wrestling... the atheleticism and the art of the movement. Sometimes, I am even embarassed for the people who get too wrapped up in a wrestling match or angle, like the girl crying in the crowd after Savage and Liz reunited or the little ol' grandma who would attack the heels. I can't deny them their emotions but it wasn't the same reaction I would have had. I think I have covers enough key points to get my point across but I am sure other people have opinions on crowd reaction and how it affects their pleasure of a match. So, how does the crowd affect you? Should the crowd always play into the roles the organization has designed for them (ie boo the heels/cheer the faces)? How much should the fans let themselves go and also realize that they shouldn't have to accept a crappy product? How much of the pressure is on the company and the wrestlers to perform so they get the proper response? Do fans have the right to voice ther displeasure or appreciation for things they observe in the company? Talk to me.

I think whole ROH shows are very tough to watch. When you have the ability to go from chapter to chapter it is much easier. I didn't include it I was waiting until they remastered it. Yeah, 2004 ROH is highly enjoyable stuff. As for the 2005 stuff, Loss doesn't have those yet.

Wait until you get to American Dragon v. Jay from Final Battle '04. That match is pretty damn good. I think you should rephrase it to say they couldn;t have a great singles match with ayone unless that other one is Bryan Danielson

It is funny you mention the ROH crowd but there is a reason crowds like this exist. IT is a direct reaction to the crap fed to fans from WWF. In fact, I think I'll start a thread on crowd reactions and the appropriate response.

Backlash Fallout ---The show was a sellout of 14,000. 4,000 tickets were sold after the Hogan announcement. ---The company hopes Hogan's return boosted the buyrate for the show. ---More money was spent advertising this show than any other "B" show inc. a 3/4 page ad in USA Today and lots of radio spots ---The idea of Hogan being there was the focus of all advertising. There was no mention of Batista or HHH in any of the print ads. The radio ad never mentioned who Hogan and HBK would be wrestling. Star Ratings: Tomko v. Val Venis ** Shelton Benjamin v. Chris Jericho ***1/2 Tag Team Gauntlet Series **1/4 Edge v. Chris Benoit **** Kane v. Viscera 1/2* Hogan and HBK v. Hassan & Daivari ** Batista v. HHH ***

This should not be a criteria when voting for someone. But still... Tito Santana

I'm going Big Show on this one. I can name a hadnful of good matches from both guys but when you get the negative X-Pac heat, you know you should be shown the door. Big Show

Wayne Ferris

I have listed Jake's accomplishments in aonther thread. They far surpass Bradshaw's Jake the Snake

Brock delivers seven F-5s to the hepless Brit. Lesnar